Tuesday, June 08, 2010

TGB - Evil Things (Clean Feed, 2010)

It's great to see a band that has enough irreverent humor to cut an album that includes covers of songs by Bill Evans and Black Sabbath, along with tributes to a former Beatle and a notorious sorcerer. Consisting of Mario Delgado on guitar, Alexandre Frazao on drums and Sergio Carolino on tuba, the group has a unique an exciting sound that should appeal to fans of the work that guitarist Bill Frisell produced in the mid 1990's. Mixing grinding and abrading uptempo tracks with abstract smears of music the group covers a wide range of territory. Their song "George Harrison" is a fascinating tribute to the late pop legend, moving dynamically through several sections from dramatic layers of tuba to strong guitar and drum interplay, with music is constantly shifting, and building upon itself. Some of the band's impish humor shines through on "Aleister Crowley" which develops from an ominous acoustic guitar led opening to a wild and wholly electric free jazz performance, complete with slurred and screamed vocalizing to complete the scene of musical mayhem, slashing burning like the old mage himself was involved in casting some musical magic. The mix of instruments may seem an odd pairing, but it works really well, making for emotional and exciting music that falls neither into the traditional power trio or abstract free jazz camps. The musicians bring a wide variety of influences into play from rock and pop to electronic and avant-guard, and it seves them well in making a compelling album. Evil Things - amazon.com